Spotlight on Permanence for Youth

Of the approximately 400,000 children and youth in foster care in the United States, one-third are between the ages of 12 and 17. All young people—regardless of age—need and deserve permanent, loving families. No one is too old for permanency. This month, we highlight resources focused on achieving permanence for youth, including an issue brief with information on efforts to reunite children and families, funding available for reunification efforts, and promising practices for supporting reunification; a pilot program that aims to keep teenagers out of foster care and safely at home; and more.

Reunification: The First Permanency Outcome
In 2012, 51 percent of the children who left foster care in the United States were reunited with their parents or primary caregiver. States also reported in 2012 that 53 percent of children in...More

Permanence and Family Preservation
The best way to ensure permanence for children and youth is to prevent unnecessary removal from home. A pilot program conducted by New York City's Administration for Children's Services (ACS) aims...More

Promoting Kinship Foster Care
When it is possible to do so, children should be placed with relatives if they must be removed from their homes. Research shows that formal kinship foster care provides greater stability for...More

Improving Transition Planning for Youth
Responding to studies that indicate largely negative outcomes for youth who have transitioned out of foster care, researchers in Los Angeles County, CA, embarked on a study to identify best...More

Caseworker Perspectives on APPLA
In 1997, with the passage of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, Congress eliminated long-term foster placement as a permanency option. There was widespread belief that all children and youth...More

Investing in Youth Well-Being
The Foster Care Work Group—one of three work groups in the Youth Transition Funders Group, a network of grantmakers seeking to help all youth make a successful transition to adulthood by age...More

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